Wednesday, November 05, 2008

History, Lincoln and Kennedy Parallels

I see parallels with the President Elect and Presidents Lincoln and Kennedy.

First Lincoln, who was not born in Illinois, but made his home in Illinois and went to Washington from Illinois, just like the President Elect. Both were lawyers here.

Lincoln was the great emancipator, Obama is the first President from African heritage, though neither had any history of slavery. I think these are very significant.

I also see a lot of cockeyed euphoria that accompanied both Kennedy's and Obama's elections. This frightens me. Calm down people.

There are people and other countries that may not have been happy with the US recently, they see this election as a grand thing and can see only hope.

I'm afraid that this president is an unknown factor as far as defense and he will be pushed, just to see what he will do. I think this is similar to Kennedy and Khrushchev with the Cuban Missile Crisis. This is why I say, "Calm down." Let's see what the man does when his back is against it.

This election may have made some of our friends friendlier, but remember, regardless of the outcome of this election, America still has people who hate us and I think the world has just gotten a little less safe.

I worry about all the "volunteers" that the Obama campaign paid to be volunteers. I fear that money drove this election rather than the issues. Slick advertising always gets Americans' attention.

Speaking of economy. Although it is clear that he Obama campaign had the message of change, I don't know how radical that change will be or how far left it will go. Will the government take more from me? I suspect so. Will the government get more into my personal business? I suspect so. Will the government get more into businesses business? I suspect so. Will any of that be good? My opinion is no.

Again, I'll wait and see what actually happens. The President is one person; campaign promises are what they are. Politics is thick, slow and messy, not grand, sweeping and level headed. Let's see what sort of camel this committee comes up with, but I'm afraid we are going to get a camel when we need a horse.

I liked the acceptance speech in Grant Park, Chicago. I love that it was in Chicago, but I also like that it was open and lots of people could be there. I like that the VP Elect is Catholic (just like Kennedy).

As long as I'm drawing Kennedy parallels maybe Obama can start a new fashion like Kennedy. JFK ushered out the era when men wore hats, maybe BHO can bring them back.

7 comments:

Sadie
said...

Hey! Came here from MV. I liked this post! It is intelligent and level-headed--the sanest post-election reaction I've come across, actually. I find that people are absolutely enraptured with Barak Obama! He is their darling. But all the sensationalism cannot be good--it will only blind people to the man's faults (and let's face it, everyone has 'em), and they'll be less likely to admit when he's made a mistake. It is not good to become too emotionally attached to a politician.

Welcome to Illini 6

While deployed in Afghanistan I chose as my radio call sign, Illini6. 6 denoting commander and Illini in honor of my Alma Mater.

This blog is a place to share and enjoy the writings and rantings of the Inner Prop.

Inner Prop was a nickname given to me because in times of stress I call upon my inner prop (Prop is in reference to the Rugy Union position of Prop Forward). The inner prop is like the inner child, only more violent.